EDITORIAL: Les Roark's legacy of making Shelby a better place to live

If you've spent much time in Shelby, or Cleveland County for that matter, you've come across the name Les Roark.

If you were lucky, you knew the man.

Les did much for the city of Shelby in his 89 years. After years of declining health, he died this week.

He was well known as a former Shelby mayor. For as involved and passionate about the city as he continued to be, despite his age, a newcomer might guess his mayoral reign lasted decades and he was a lifelong politician.

He wasn't. He served the remainder of the term of Hubert Plaster when Plaster died in 1976. And he didn't seek reelection after that single term.

Les felt a calling to help his neighbor and make his city a better place to live. He did so through elected office, serving as mayor and several terms as a member of the Shelby Board of Alderman, but much of his work was done from the private sector.

Growing up on the family farm in Grover, Les joined the military while still a teenager and served overseas in England during World War II. Three brothers also served in the war, one of whom was killed in combat.

He worked as a reporter and editor with The Cleveland Times. It wasn't long before his interests grew to public issues and the political process.

In the late 1950s, he initiated a bi-racial Human Relations Commission to promote racial equality and an orderly process for integrating the city's public work force. In 1996, the city established the "Lester D. Roark Annual Award" for "advancing racial equality and goodwill" and named him the first recipient.

It was just two years later that Les and fellow trailblazer the Rev. Sam Raper, who himself served 25 years on the Shelby city council and was the first black man to do so, formed the Raper-Roark Trust Fund. The fund, to this day, provides financial assistance for beautification projects in uptown Shelby. For their many efforts, both men received The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state's highest civilian honor, in 2004.

Les co-founded Cleveland Sports, which had its own professional minor league baseball team, in the 1960s. He helped develop River Bend Golf Course and played a fundraising role in building Veterans Field, now home to the American Legion World Series, at Shelby High School in the 1970s.

Les received countless awards, honors and recognition through the years for all his work. But that's not what drove him.